‘Dead bodies, debris’: Eyewitness recalls hearing ‘massive sound’ during Air India plane crash

An Air India flight crashed on Thursday after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport. It had 242 people on board.

An Air India flight with 242 passengers on board crashed near Gujarat’s Meghaninagar area five minutes after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport. Speaking to PTI, an eyewitness who rushed to the accident site after hearing a “massive sound” has recalled the horror incident.

An eyewitness at the Ahmedabad crash site. (X/@PTI_News)

“I was at home when we heard a massive sound. When we went out to see what had happened, there was a layer of thick smoke in the air. When we came here, dead bodies and debris from the crashed aircraft were scattered all over,” the eyewitness said. A video shared shows him standing at the crash site. There has been no official confirmation about the death of the passengers or cabin crew.

(Disturbing visuals. Viewer discretion advised)

“Thick black smoke”

Another eyewitness Chandrakant Patil, an IndiGo passenger, shared about the incident with ANI. "It looked like a forest fire. We took pictures of the smoke, not knowing what it was. Soon after boarding the aircraft, an announcement of a flight delay was made, but we were not told that such a crash had taken place. We got to know about it only after we checked our phones,” he told the outlet. He was at the airport to board a flight to Pune.

The Air India flight departed from Ahmedabad airport at 1:39 pm, and after a few minutes, it gave a Mayday call to the air traffic controllers. The AI171 flight was headed to London's Gatwick carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board. Among the passengers, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals.

As per sources, 120 people are feared dead in the horror crash. Rescue operations are underway.